Did You Know...

... that two DeLand Norgies had a 1-point battle at the national championships last week?

DeLand Norgies lineup last week

posted Aug 5th, 2014 -
The story of the national championships in Norway is usually the story of the annual DeLand Norgies reunion, bronze medal winners at the world meets in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

It happened once again last week, even though it was not the original lineup with Carl-Erik Tuv in the tail slot. Former Polaris member Sissel Maria Finnseth substituted for Carl-Erik Tuv last year and was back in the same slot at this year's national championships in Voss.

The DeLand Norgies had their comeback in 2007, after the last world meet attendance in 2003, and have not missed any of the national championships ever since. This year's reunion was over after five rounds, as the weather in Voss was not very supportive throughout the whole week.

The Norgies members have competed with the original or a slightly different lineup in the AAA Class and missed the national title only in the 2007 comeback year and in 2009, when the new national 4-way team Arcteryx outscored the original lineup.

However, another very exciting part of Norway's national championships came with the reunion in 2009. The Norgies members also competed as player coaches with other selected Norwegian skydivers in the A Class. Every year, the A Class competition has been just as interesting as the DeLand Norgies reunion.

Especially two A Class teams have had their names consistently on the leaderboard: Kentucky Fried Penguins with Norgies member Pal Kolbenstvedt, and Swingers with Lise Nansen.

This internal Norgies competition began in 2011 when Lise Nansen guided her Swingers to the 1st place. Pal Kolbenstvedt with his Kentucky Fried Penguins had won the A Class championships in 2009 and 2010 before the Swingers were founded.

Pal Kolbenstvedt allowed his former front piece partner Lise Nansen only once to take the 1st place in the A Class and took back the top spot with his team in 2012, 2013 and last week. It was a horse race though and closer than ever before, a 1-point difference after five rounds.

Highlight of the A Class competition was the Super Sequence in Round 4, where Kentucky Fried Penguins turned the previous 2-point deficit into a 1-point lead with a new Norwegian record score in this category. Lise Nansen's Swingers posted an impressive 31-pointer, as well, but could not change the 2-point difference in Round 5. Both teams are now probably making recruiting plans for the 2015 lineups...